September-October 1997

Teenagers with high levels of connectedness to parents, family members
and teachers, and more frequent parental presence in the home are less likely
to use drugs, attempt suicide or become sexually active at an early age,
according to the National Longitudinal Study on Adolescent Health. Feeling
loved, understood and paid attention to reduces high-risk behavior by teens
regardless of whether a child comes from a one- or two-parent household,
the study concluded (Michael D. Resnick, PhD, et al., "Protecting
Adolescents From Harm," Journal of the American Medical Association,
September 10, 1997, pp. 823-832; Barbara Vobejda, "Love Conquers
What Ails Teens, Study Finds," The Washington Post, September 10,
1997, p. A1).

The adolescent study was conducted by researchers at the University of
Minnesota and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. The $25 million
study was sponsored by the National Institute of Child Health and Human
Development, which is part of the National Institutes of Health. From September
1994 through April 1995, researchers conducted in-home interviews of 12,118
adolescents in grades 7 through 12 drawn from an initial national school
survey of 90,118 adolescents from 80 high schools and their feeder middle
schools.

Overall, 25.7% of adolescents interviewed reported being current cigarette
smokers, with 9.2% of females and 10% of males smoking at least 6 cigarettes
per day. 17.9% of students reported drinking alcohol at least monthly, with
9.9% reporting weekly use. One quarter of the students interviewed reported
ever having smoked marijuana, with 12.7% reporting having smoked marijuana
at least once during the previous month. About 6% of the students reported
using marijuana at least 4 times during the previous 30 days.

Two variables associated with higher adolescent use of cigarette, alcohol
and marijuana were easy household access to the substances and family history
of recent suicidal behavior. 31.4% and 28.5% of all respondents reported
easy access in the home to cigarettes and alcohol respectively. Student
employment requiring more than 20 hours per week was also associated
with higher rates of cigarette, alcohol and marijuana use, emotional distress
and early sexual debut. Some researchers suggest these associations may
be due to excessive leisure income, exposure to older peers, and fatigue.

The researchers said that the study reinforces the importance of parents
remaining involved in their children's lives through their teen years. According
to researcher J. Richard Udry, PhD, professor of maternal and child
health at UNC-Chapel Hill, "Parents are just as important to adolescents
as they are to smaller children." Researchers also concluded that classroom
size and teacher experience had less to do with student success and positive
behavior than to the closeness students felt to their teachers.